yep, I completely agree with your observations here. The key with debasement and attractiveness in a trade currency is not solely what you can get with your money, but also how easy it is to earn more. People naturally go through bursts of saving or spending, and if too many people save at once, we get recessions and depressions and so on. People also like seeing their bank account grow, even if the purchasing power of the total account value remains the same...that's why so many people have put up with fiat for so long. I made a long post about this on the devtalk thread, for others who are interested:
http://coinzen.org/index.php/topic,147.msg4694.html#msg4694Devcoins already tick all the boxes for a useable trade currency, and all it needs is maybe a slight redefinition of target market. Devcoins have to stand on their own to survive, and we can make that happen by bringing in creative-types to the crypto world. A completely new market. I don't know how the founders would feel about this, but I'd like to hear their perspective (UTB?).
One thing I particularly liked about weisoq's new video is that he points out that all creative types are welcome - developers, artists, musicians, writers, and all for releasing stuff for the public to use for free, and this coin is helping people do that. It's basically impossible to have open source music, writing, and art in the way we can have open source code, but all it requires is a tweak in focus to realize the end goal is the same - free stuff in the public domain that people can use to make a profit.
Thanks for the video comments (and from others).
The music, art aspect - yeah this originated from mid-last year when there was more talk about incorporating other forms. I agree true ‘open-source’ is a challenge, but I think much of the issue seems to come down to an existing conflict in the open source world of free vs open source. There are even different (stupidly different in my opinion) organisations with a separate focus. My own view is that releasing art for free, if it’s also free to change, is still better than not, if there's a sustainable model and interest to support it. But this is difficult to vet and perhaps even harder to assess objectively – e.g. what exactly is the different between sound and music, or scribbles and art; and who gets to decide that. And then perhaps ‘music’ or ‘art’ in the context of malleability is actually less valuable to to others than sound and scribbles etc...
Anyway, that’s why they’re still in the video - because I think greater inclusion, collaboration and community should be the longer term goal. Lyrics and scripts and a few photos to date, hopefully more in the future.
On the currency issue, I agree and have been saying this trend towards perpetuity would happen for a while. I don’t know what the future winning cryptos will be, but I’m pretty certain they’ll be unlimited. And by 'winning' I mean ubiquity not necessarily price. What people seem to miss is that trade requires two parties. To imagine a credit-free crypto world is stupid, and the rising real rates side of credit transactions in a deflationary asset will not be attractive when there are other options. Also to become a global reserve currency (not stating this of Bitcoin or Devcoin, just making a point) requires a position of net currency export or running a trade deficit – i.e. others need to be able to easily get hold of it, not just want it or store it.
The analogy doesn’t fully translate to cryptos except that it’s fundamental that cryptos, Devcoin get out there to as many people as possible. This is the mistake some other currencies are making - it’s very attractive to sit on savings gambling on the network effect and better timing than others, but the ‘deflation’ advantage is a mirage if others get tired of difficulties acquiring it or waiting for lower prices. This is my main reason for grumbling about devtome distribution sometimes and why I think other art forms are important for purpose and for sustainability. Maintaining an overly concentrated distribution may seem good for those getting coins, but if it’s not addressed then it’s just a punt on when everyone else gets bored of waiting and moves onto something else.
